Farewell tours have become commonplace in American sports, as legendary athletes are literally and figuratively given their flowers as they play out their final season. And that's the chapter we've entered in the WWE career of John Cena.
After more than 20 years in professional wrestling, as a 16-time (for now) world champion and the most recognizable mainstream wrestling star since Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Cena announced last July that he would be retiring from in-ring action at the end of 2025. Cena's ride into the sunset is a little bit different from those of his traditional sports counterparts; Major League Baseball's Cal Ripken Jr. and Mariano Rivera never got to low blow any of their rivals to set up a shot at going out on top on the biggest stage in their business.
It has been more than 20 years since Cena's first WrestleMania match, and more than 10 years since the last time he vied for the WWE championship on wrestling's grandest stage. Cena is set to headline WrestleMania 41, closing out a weekend of action at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas against Cody Rhodes with a chance at a record-setting 17th world title.
The last chapter of Cena's story has been built upon every story that came before it -- each rival leaving their mark. And so, before Cena dons his jean shorts for one final trip down a giant WrestleMania ramp, let's look back at 10 WrestleMania matches that have shaped Cena's legacy -- with insights from five of Cena's WrestleMania opponents over the past 20 years: Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, The Miz, JBL and Austin Theory.
10. WrestleMania 39: John Cena vs. Austin Theory (champion) for the WWE United States championship (April 2023)
Cena is trying to make history this weekend, but there's a strong argument that he has done as much as any WWE superstar to shape the history of the United States championship, too.
This match against Theory was the third and final time Cena would wrestle for the U.S. title on a WrestleMania card. The first time Cena wrestled for that belt, at WrestleMania 20, Theory was only 7 years old -- and just about to become a Cena superfan.
"I was super invested in the whole atmosphere of wrestling," Theory told ESPN. "Like a real-life superhero movie every time you watch it. John Cena, when I saw his character and how he carried himself, whether he's battling one guy or five guys or the world's against him, just that attitude -- keep moving forward and don't quit."
Fast-forward a few years, and Theory had a date with Cena at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles after winning the United States championship against Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley in late November 2022. Before they could get to WrestleMania, however, there was a moment on "Monday Night Raw" when Theory stood opposite his hero and got verbally smacked down.
"Oh, man, he cooked my ass," Theory said. "But I think that's the fun in it, right? It was in Boston, his hometown, so I just knew I was walking in there, these people are going to hate me and John Cena is going to get me."
That night, Theory soaked up the energy from the more than 67,000 fans in attendance, went toe-to-toe with his wrestling hero, and (with a little help from a low blow) beat Cena in the middle of the ring and walked out with his title intact. Theory got to enjoy one more special moment backstage.
"After the match, I spoke with Cena. We took a photo together, and he told me to really enjoy this moment -- take it in, and don't let it pass."
9. WrestleMania 20: John Cena vs. The Big Show (c) for the WWE United States championship (March 2004)
Cena's first WrestleMania match had some parallels with Theory's. Cena was in his mid-20s, ready to break out, looking for his first WWE championship at Madison Square Garden.
Wearing a New York Knicks Patrick Ewing No. 33 jersey, Cena verbally laid into his opponent that evening, Big Show. The angry giant soon charged toward the ring, and the match was on. After getting Big Show up for a pair of F-U moves (later known as the Attitude Adjustment) and a shot to the jaw with a jewel-encrusted set of brass knuckles, Cena was victorious.
More than a year before he'd turn the WWE championship into the memorable spinner belt version of the title he's so closely tied to, Cena similarly blinged out the United States championship for the duration (114 days) of his first reign.
8. WrestleMania 21: John Cena vs. JBL (c) for the WWE championship (April 2005)
Long before he had a chance at title No. 17, Cena had to get over the hump with his first WWE world championship reign. Nearly two years after his first shot at a world title, Cena was lined up as a fan favorite opposite one of the most hated villains of that era: defending world champion JBL (John "Bradshaw" Layfield).
Layfield had spent the bulk of his WWE career known as Bradshaw, a tag team wrestler -- most notably as half of The Acolytes, later known as the APA. Within three months of the APA's final breakup in 2004, JBL was a new man -- a well-polished heel whose meteoric rise led him to a world championship match against Eddie Guerrero -- a match JBL won.
"It was something that came late in my career," Layfield told ESPN. "Kurt Angle was hurt, Big Show was hurt and Brock Lesnar had left to go fight in the UFC. They needed somebody right away to fight Eddie Guerrero, and I just happened to be the guy.
"It was a perfect situation with Eddie because of my character and the way it was -- they just went really well together. After that, I got to work with Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer."
Through matches against Guerrero, Angle, Booker T and Big Show, Layfield's title reign stretched on for almost a year, something unheard of in that era. At the end of that line stood Cena, primed for a breakout and a world title to certify him as the guy in WWE. In about six weeks of TV, JBL and Cena built tremendous tension and primed fans for Cena's big win at WrestleMania 21.
The WrestleMania match -- just over 11 minutes -- was a mechanism to crown Cena and give JBL his comeuppance. The title rematch that followed, a brutal "I Quit" match a month later at Judgment Day, was the true in-ring classic. But dethroning JBL at WrestleMania 21 was an important step on that path.
"Every champion that comes along that transcends the sport has to walk through hell," Layfield said. "Bret Hart did it for Stone Cold. Mick Foley did it for Triple H and The Rock. And I wanted to do that for John. The fans have got to see that, if they can believe in their guy."
7. WrestleMania 31: John Cena vs. Rusev (c) for the WWE United States championship (March 2015)
Ten years ago, Cena walked into Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, amid an identity crisis. He was almost a year removed from his 15th world title reign, and it felt increasingly clear that Cena wouldn't resist the call of Hollywood forever.
But this match against Rusev at WrestleMania 31 seemingly ignited something deep inside him.
"He's such a teacher. He's so good," Rusev said in 2022 on Kurt Angle's podcast. "[He asked], 'What's your four best moves?' That's what I learned from him that I utilize to this day. He asks you because he just wants to highlight you in the best spots and the best light. He's just trying to understand in his head where he's going to put those four best moves."
The match was a pure throwback -- Cena, the sympathetic hero, against the seemingly unbeatable foreign adversary who had never been pinned or submitted in WWE. To hammer home the imagery, Rusev entered the ring on top of a tank.
Cena had one of his best in-ring performances at this WrestleMania, and his victory kicked off one of the most memorable stretches of Cena's career as he took on all comers in a summer's worth of U.S. Open Challenges against some of the biggest rising stars in the company.
6. WrestleMania 27: John Cena vs. The Miz (c) for the WWE championship (April 2011)
The outcome of the main event seemed inevitable. Fans had seen this story before: Cena walking into the biggest story of the year as a world title challenger against a cowardly champion seemingly overdue for comeuppance. In this instance, it was The Miz, a champion who had claimed the title from the shadows with the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Miz's rise to the top had been meteoric, from MTV reality show star to United States champion, to Mr. Money in the Bank, to WWE champion. And, in something of a serendipitous turn of events, Miz earning the respect and confidence to take on such a role in the main event of WrestleMania can be traced back to a pair of European tours where he got to wrestle Cena on untelevised live events.
"This was a time when you go to Europe, you have 10 to 15 live events and I was going up against John Cena," The Miz told ESPN. "And what does every top good guy want to go up against? They want to go against the ultimate uber heel, the worst of the worst, the bad guy that doesn't get respect. And I was getting more heat than anybody, and so I was doing that, all while learning from Cena."
The Miz seemed destined to be another check mark on Cena's WrestleMania list, but a funny thing happened along the road to the Georgia Dome: The Miz legitimized himself in the eyes of a lot of fans.
There was The Miz's improbable, but highly effective, impression of The Rock, which gave him the upper hand over Cena. And then, just before the main event entrances, came what has become one of the signature moments of The Miz's career -- the "Hate Me Now" vignette.
The match is known for a couple of key moments: The Miz legitimately getting knocked out and reportedly suffering a concussion, and then The Rock, the WrestleMania master of ceremonies restarting the match and laying out Cena to set up a future match, and opening the door for The Miz to be just the second wrestler to pin Cena at WrestleMania.
"I'm very thankful that I was in that match with John Cena as well as Mike Chioda -- the referee -- as well as The Rock," The Miz said. "They took care of me. I don't know what would have happened if I go down and they just stop the entire match. That would have been the biggest regret of my life. I was safe and I was able to finish what needed to be done for this main event of WrestleMania. I'm forever thankful."
5. WrestleMania 22: John Cena (c) vs. Triple H for the WWE championship (April 2006)
Of all the milestones on this list, an oft-overlooked moment is Cena's first show-closing match against Triple H. It was also the first time Cena walked into a WrestleMania as a WWE world champion.
Despite being in the midst of one of the most dominant world title reigns of his career, his second overall, Cena still had to contend with a portion of the fan base yelling, "You can't wrestle." Even though some of those chants continued and grew louder as the year went on, this match went a long way toward proving that Cena could put on a WrestleMania main-event quality match.
For the first of only two instances in his career, Cena walked in and walked out as WWE champion. And if you'd like an Easter egg in this match, keep a close eye on Cena's Chicago-themed entrance for a future WWE champion and WrestleMania 41 main eventer.
4. WrestleMania 36: Firefly Funhouse match: John Cena vs. 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt (April 2020)
WrestleMania 36 was moved from Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, weeks after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because no fans were allowed to attend, it was a show that had every reason to flop, and yet from the ashes rose one of the most wonderfully surreal "matches" of Cena's WWE career against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.
The Firefly Funhouse match was a creative playground in which Cena and Wyatt ran through Cena's career in surreal fashion, including a look back at their first major clash at WrestleMania 30 in April 2014. In a 2024 interview with Chris Van Vliet, Cena recalled the extraordinary circumstances that led to the fruition of the Firefly Funhouse match.
"I remember there was three people in one of the conference rooms at NXT," Cena said. "And I said, 'What's a Firefly Funhouse match?' They said, 'I don't know,' and I said, 'Great! What can we do?'... Holy s---, we can make this a meta look at my life. What do we have in the warehouse ... the [SmackDown] fist, the blue cage, I can get some nWo stuff. Dude, we can make this work. I remember that's the only match I've ever written from start to finish."
3. WrestleMania 24: John Cena vs. Randy Orton (c) vs. Triple H for the WWE championship (March 2008)
As the final chapter of Cena's in-ring wrestling career is written, it seems clear that no performer had as much influence, or was more influenced by Cena, than Orton. Between major shows and untelevised live events, the pair has shared a ring more than 300 times.
Their first match was an afterthought on a Brian Pillman tribute show 25 years ago -- two guys set to train at Ohio Valley Wrestling for a future in the WWE. Early on in their time in Louisville, Kentucky, Orton recalled the first moment he knew there was something different about Cena.
"In WWE developmental, there was this guy named BJ Payne," Orton told ESPN. "Jim Cornette wanted BJ to cut a promo on the spot, in front of everybody. BJ, bless his heart, kind of just stood there for a second -- cat had his tongue. And right then and there, Cena stood up and just cut a promo. It was storytelling 101. We were on the edge of our seat like, 'Oh, this guy is really f---ing special.' That was the first time I realized, 'Oh man, I'm going to know this guy for the rest of my life.'"
Orton and Cena shared the ring in 21 world title matches between Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-view events over the ensuing two decades. But somehow, the triple threat WWE championship match at WrestleMania 24 that also featured Triple H was the only time Cena and Orton met at WrestleMania.
Orton walked into that match as champion, and as much of a bad guy as he had ever been. And yet in this match, like so many of their clashes before, Orton had the unique challenge of dealing with fans split on how they felt about Cena. But in Orton's mind, it was as easy as every match he and Cena ever had.
"He is so over that half the crowd loves him, half the crowd hates him," Orton said. "I knew how lucky I was to be in that ring with him because those fans were so f---ing loud, man. While they were chanting, 'Let's go Cena, Cena sucks,' there is no better circumstance for a wrestler when they are just screaming at the top of their lungs the entire match, whether they love you or hate you.
"The 'Cena sucks' people, they're liking everything I do to John to get him down. I'm the bad guy and I'm getting cheers, which is weird, because that wouldn't be the way it would be if I was in the ring with any other wrestler. It was so much fun to be a part of because there's nothing worse than an audience that doesn't want to be there sitting on their hands ... it was never like that with John -- the crowd was always into it."
On that night, Orton shocked the world when he kicked Triple H in the head, pinned Cena and delivered the first WrestleMania loss of Cena's career. But there would be many more chapters in their story.
2. WrestleMania 28 and 29: John Cena vs. The Rock (April 2012 and April 2013)
Fans had to wait a year to get what they thought would be Cena's retribution for the attack The Rock perpetrated on Cena at WrestleMania 27. WrestleMania 28 was a clash between two generational superstars who had expanded their reach into mainstream culture, and yet Cena and The Rock could never ignore the gravitational pull of the wrestling ring.
The first clash was a homecoming for The Rock at Miami's Sun Life Stadium, as the former Miami Hurricane stepped in for his first one-on-one wrestling match in a decade. Overconfidence besieged Cena, and left the door open for The Rock to claim victory -- and set the stage for one final clash.
One year later, the WWE championship was on the line at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cena captured his 13th career WWE world title that night, and that would seemingly be their final chapter. But fast-forward a decade, and the ripples from this pairing are still being felt. A year after Cena interceded in the WrestleMania 40 main event to help Rhodes defeat The Rock's cousin and ally Roman Reigns, The Rock played a vital role in Cena's heel turn ahead of WrestleMania 41.
1. WrestleMania 23: John Cena (c) vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWE championship (April 2007)
There's an irony to this match coming in at No. 1 on this list because it was never meant to happen. Much like Cena getting his comeuppance on The Rock, Triple H had a score he was meant to settle against Cena from WrestleMania 22. But after an injury left Triple H on the shelf, his D-Generation X partner Michaels stepped back into the spotlight.
"I just looked at it as a fantastic opportunity, to be one of the guys that would certainly continue to solidify John as our No. 1 guy, and the guy that was going to be carrying the company," Michaels told ESPN. "There's kind of two types of people that you're working with [as the top guy] -- the guys that would rather have that spot than you, and guys that support you. I was at a place in my career where I was 100% committed to having the best match with John that we possibly could."
The clash at Detroit's Ford Field did all of that and then some for Cena, who put on what's widely recognized as the best WrestleMania in-ring performance of his career. For the second and final time in his career, Cena walked in and walked out as WWE world champion. But this match epitomises everything that his and Michaels' careers are built upon.
And despite being the "fall guy" for Cena in the match and story, Michaels would have a career resurgence that carried him into the end of his in-ring career. One month later, Cena and Michaels clashed in a memorable hour-long clash in London, and met again a few more times. Michaels put together one of the best WrestleMania runs of his career from there, wrestling Ric Flair in his WWE retirement match, followed by two classics against The Undertaker.
"I always tried to make sure that I was 100% prepared for any WrestleMania match that I had," Michaels said. "At that time I was working with John, I had no idea what the years ahead had in store for me. You can't call yourself Mr. WrestleMania and not get a reputation of having to perform at that level at that show. I had every intention of making sure John and I were going to work our butts off.
"I mean this lovingly, I don't care whatever level he was at. I needed him to reach a higher level that night -- hopefully the highest level he'd ever met at that time -- because that's what I certainly expect for myself, and that's what I expect from the guys that are in the ring with me. I think John knew that, and that's something I've always appreciated about him. I believe it is something that John took very seriously at the time; he wanted to be at his absolute best as well."